18.1? 



(U.EANINCS IN HEK CLU/rriiK. 



•.'01 



tln' I'Xinrss iiaiii liati cariifii ;i\\a\ iriinu|iliaiit- 

 ly. and foi' siooii. 



Aiitiiiiy l>iiiiil<i' stood potritird. It was iiisht 

 ill his soul. He rcniaiiu'd soiiif time without 

 thought and witlioiit . The nnisc iis<'lf. hoi- 

 riticd. vt'ils its fai'c 



.\iraiii a whistle. |>i('iviiii,\ to inai<c one siiivcr 

 to the iiiari'ow. To Antony it sounds lilvc a 

 fuii<'ral-i<iM'll. The tfain stops boldly iK'forc a 

 platfonn lillcd with people. Tiiey are Ihei'e. 

 his intendi'd. his t'ulnre niothei--in-la w. with 

 many of their aetiuainlaiu-es. Asiiaincd. he 

 Jiides liiniself. for the door has just been opon- 

 od. Tlie eoiidiuMor aitpcacs: lie makes a sign, 

 and the station-master apiifoaches with two 

 olliivrs. They seize him. 



■'lie has dressed himself up now." said the 

 eondiK'tor. laughing. 



■■ Sileiu-e! ■■ said the olfieer. "■ l>riug a cloak." 



Tile second oHicer tak(>s olf his cloak and puts 

 it on .Antony. A struggle ensues, and the mis- 

 erable youth succeeds in jumiiing out of the 

 coacli. 'I'he otb'cef seizes him; lie teai's away, 

 and the cloak I'emains in the hands of the olti- 

 eei-s. A cry e.scap<>s from two mouths, flush- 

 ing witli shame, liis intended turns away her 

 head: tlie futufe niothei--in-law is tufiied into 

 a jiillar of salt. Kefor(> their eyes Antfmy is 

 again seized by his piu'secutors. and shut in 

 with tlieiu in a chaiitable closed carriage. 



Hy mail the thing ought to have been ex- 

 plained away at a later date. But Antony 

 l{unik<' never had any further desire to try new 

 races of liees. nor to attend bee-sliows. ;ind 

 equally he never revisited his enaraorata. for 

 she wrote liim that she had no desire to marry 

 a sans-culotte. 



All. yes: he was a bee-keeper in bad luck. 



THE BEE PARALYSIS. 



A (;ki:minai. 



1>ISE.\SK. AND now 

 HV .VNTI.SKPTICS. 



TO mjE IT 



.Judging from the reports found in the apicul- 

 lural magazines, we may believe that this dis- 

 ease wascjuite general throughout the country 

 during the summer of 1891. Practically the 

 same symptoms are described by correspon- 

 dents as they have written from different local- 

 ities. The points have been as follows: First. 

 the (|ucens have ai)peared healthy, and there 

 has been no diminution of egg-laying. Second, 

 the usual attention to liiood-rearing upon the 

 part of thi' colony has been observed. Third, 

 even greater fecundity upon the part of the 

 queen, and greater alacrity among the brood- 

 rearers have been noticed, presumably because 

 the colony was stimulated to greater activity 

 in nrdi'r that the I'equisite number of bees 

 might be kejit up, in view of the untimely 

 death of many of those new ly hatched. Fourth, 

 till' death-stricken y(juiig l)ees have had the 

 black and yellow colors very distinctly marked, 

 anfl a peculiar gloss which is quite unnatural, 

 and have also failed to possess the hairy and 

 plum[) appearance found in a healthy young 

 bee. l-'iftb. they died in large numbei-s, vei'v 

 few within but mostly at th*; entrances, or just 

 in front of the hive. Sixth, there was univer- 

 sally a peculiar, sour, decaying animal odor, 

 otTensive as one opened a hive or brought one 

 of those dead bees to the nostril. Seventh, they 

 gatliered honey as exijeditiously and well as 

 ever, storing more in the surplus sections than 

 usual, seeming to have a fear to put it in the 

 brood -chamber, and, at the close of the season, 

 after brood -rearing ceased, were found to be in 

 poor condition, perhajis having to be fed. 



Tliese ai'e the statements that have been 

 made from time to time in (Ilkamnos and oth- 



er papers (luring the past year. We observed 

 and tabulated them, for we had the disease t,o 

 look after among our own bees, and were de- 

 sirous of infoiiiiation, and anxious to impart 

 what might ite reliable to our fellows in the 

 craft. Tiiey agree with our own experiiMice 

 during the past season. W(> had two colonies 

 with this clearly delined and unmistakable 

 malady. We cured one at once by putting all 

 the bees lemporaiily intf) another hive, and im- 

 mersing eveiy frame in a warm weak solution 

 of Lewis" conci'Ulrated lye. ha\'iiig washed lirst 

 the interior of the hivi'with the same, rinsing 

 all off well with warm water, and wiping and 

 drying iu the house. This killed every egg and 

 unsealed larva, but, as far as wi' were able to 

 discern, the capped brood was unharmed. The 

 proportions we used, and the processes, were as 

 follows: Three ordinary [tails of water, as warm 

 as the haiid would bear, were put into a tub. and 

 thr(M> l(>vel teaspoonfuls of the lye, which we 

 previously dissolved in a pint of cold water, and 

 then added. We did the task as quickly as 

 jiossible. and had all the bees back in the liive 

 within two hours. The (lucen began at once to 

 lay in the renovated coml)s, and the colony 

 thrived thenceforth, going into winter (piarters 

 in fine condition. To make this rejKirt good to 

 date for the lieiielit of otliei- experitnenters and 

 all our fraternity of bee- lovers, w(> have just 

 been to the cellar and investigated this colony, 

 and find them to-day (Feb. 1) in prime order, 

 the ((ueen still living and full of life. I'erhaps 

 we should say tnat we never noticed any ill 

 effects from the lye-killed larv;e. They were 

 all disi)osed of by the bees themselves, except a 

 few that we picked out with a small two-tined 

 fork. 



After reading about the salt cure, recom- 

 mended by some apiculturists, we tried it upon 

 the other infected colony by simply putting a 

 layer of salt upon the entrance, so that the 

 liees had to crawl over it to get into the hive, or 

 when making tlieir exit. We think that this 

 test was made too late for us to be sure of its 

 effect, but will say that the disease gradually 

 abated until \\ e thought it was cured. Upofi 

 two or three occasions we carefully looked for 

 the queen of this latter colony; but, failing to 

 find her. we supposed she was dead, and put the 

 colony in the cellar with the expectation of 

 getting a new queen in the spring. But recent- 

 ly, to our surprise and gratification, we found 

 her, apparently well and full of vigor. 



In lioili these cases the indications warrant 

 the supposition that the disease does not affect 

 either tlu' usefulness or the life of the queens. 

 Moreover, from tlie look of a colony of bees, we 

 have been unable to discern any clew to tln^ ori- 

 gin of this dread disease, every ordinary sign of 

 pi'os|)erity b(ung visible exc(!pt the strange 

 d 'al li-losses. From the chemically purifying 

 and disinfecting character of lye, as well as salt, 

 W(! seem to be juslilied in sup[)osiiig it to be a 

 liacterial fatality, if their use has proven bene- 

 ficial. Undoubtedly the lye solution above 

 spoken of would kill every particle of even 

 cappi'd brood in a liive. if the frames were left 

 long in it. oi' were put back into the hive not 

 having been well rinsed off', i-'urlhei'. lye is one 

 of the strongest of germicides, and, as in hu- 

 man bacterial diseases, the remedy will kill 

 both patient and germs unless administered 

 with caution. The processes above enumerated 

 would also prove very tedious for an <>xtensive 

 apiarist. For this reason we hope it maybe 

 verified that common salt alone is a specific, 

 since the maliuial is always easy of access, and 

 quickly and simply used, causing no labor to 

 the bee- keeper. iKi time, delays, or losses to the 

 bees. If it should prove that salt, either solid 

 or in liquid, is only a jjalliative and not a spe- 



